Your Favorite Science Fictional Songs?

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Kitty Pryde

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What are you favorites? I'd prefer regular songs and not filk, but filk if you must. Include link to video or audio or lyrics if you got em please!

1. My ultimate favorite is "Space Queen" by Ten Speed. I believe these guys got a record deal and then the company got bought and the album never came out, thus leaving this bit of genius forever unappreciated. I heard it on the radio at age 13, fell in love, then randomly found a copy of it at age 22! Here's a link, the video is random anime footage, just listen to the song!

Well I was stranded one million miles from Earth
the saftey device from my ship didn't work
floatin around half dead with no future
in the vacuum of space gettin weaker

along came a ship with a girl that was in it
she looked like a cross between barbarella and gidget
she said hey man can i give you a ride
she opened her hatch, i went inside

And it only gets awesomer from there!

2. Space Oddity, David Bowie (aka Ground Control to Major Tom). Song link. This song is totally awesome and haunting. "I'm floating in a most peculiar way, and the stars look very different today..."

3. Renegade Survivor, Wailing Souls. This song is the bomb, along with most of the other songs on the Titan AE sountrack. It is rocking Scifi reggae awesomesauce.

I'm a renegade survivor
a new age warrior
and I'm traveling the universe
searching for the future

4. 99 Red Balloons, by Nena. The cheeriest song about nuclear annihilation you will ever hear! English version. German version.

Back at base
bugs in the software
flash the message
somethings out there
floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

5. Come Sail Away, by Styx. Just generally brimming over with awesomeness. A bit of fantasy/SF crossover appeal as well. Also, it's NAUTICAL so it gets lots of extra points! Styx has some other bitchin SF songs, like Mr. Roboto (awesome video) (which I think is part of a SF concept album?).

I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise
They climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies
Singing come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me

OK, what are your favorites?
 

geardrops

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If we're going to talk about Bowie we have to mention Starman.

There's a Starman waiting in the sky,
he'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds.


ETA:
I thought you meant things like "Jayne the hero of Canton"

So did I, till I read the post :) (And if this were the case I'd have to say this guy wins all.)
 

vrabinec

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Mine's not so much a song as it is a chant:

Hail, hail, fire and snow.
Call the angel we will go.
Far away.
For to see.
Friendly angel come to me.

Repeat over and over, pounding your fist in your other hand.
 

maxmordon

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The USS Make Shit Up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2v6rXs5J9M

I was stranded on a planet, Just me and Spock
We met a nasty nazi alien who locked our asses up
We found a hunk of crystal and a metal piece of bed
We made a laser phaser gun and shot him in the head

Bust a move, Tog

I was standing on the bridge when Sulu came to me
His eyes were full of tears he said "Captain, can't you see
the ship is gonna blow do something I beseech"
I grabbed a tribble and some chewing gum and stopped the warp core breach

And I say,
Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish
Thats the way we do things, lad, we're making shit up as we wish
The Klingons and the Romulans pose no threat to us
'Cause if we find we're in a bind we just make some shit up

And though he's just a child, and some think him a twit
Wesley is the master when it comes to making up some shit
He's the guy you want with you when you go out in space
Now if only he could beam those pimples off his face

And if you're at a party on the starship Enterprise
And the karaoke player just plain old up and dies
Set up a neutrino field inside a can of peas
Hold on to Geordi's visor and sing into Data's knee

And I say
Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish
Thats the way we do things lad, we're making shit up as we wish
The Klingons and the Romulans pose no threat to us
'Cause if we find we're in a bind we just make some shit up

Sisko's on a mission to go no bloody place
He loiters on a space station above Bajoran space
The wormhole's opened up and now they come from near and far
We'll keep the booze but please send back the fucking Jem-hadar

What is with the Klingons, remember in the day
They looked like Puerto Ricans and they dressed in gold lame
Now they look like heavy metal rockers from the dead
With leather pants and frizzy hair and lobsters on their heads

And I say
Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish
Thats the way we do things lad, we're making shit up as we wish
The Klingons and the Romulans pose no threat to us
'Cause if we find we're in a bind we just make some shit up

Well, I was stuck on Voyager, pounding on the door
When suddently it dawned on me I've seen this show before
Perhaps I'm in a warp bubble and slightly out of phase
'Cause it was way back in the sixties when they called it "Lost in Space"

We were looking for a way to make the ratings soar
So we orchestrated an encounter with the Borg
Normally you'd think that that would get us into shit
But this one has a smashing ass and a lovely set of tits

And I say
Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish
Thats the way we do things lad, we're making shit up as we wish
The Klingons and the Romulans pose no threat to us
'Cause if we find we're in a bind we're totally screwed but nevermind
We'll pull something out of our behinds, we just make some shit up
 

ElsaM

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Ooh, I've got two I'm listening to a lot at the moment:

Farewell Rocketship, by Children Collide - Link here
The video clip is kinda cool too.
This world it is not safe,
We must make plans to leave this place
We’ll build a colony on nearby planets known to me


and Computer Love, by TZU - link here
... Time travelling through the universe
Third stone from the sun on battle ship Earth
Hunt down all the replicants
clones in the tenements
probe this planet for intelligence ...
 

mario_c

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Not one vote for Rush? You guys suck. (Any one on Moving Pictures but this one is particularly good music storytelling.)
 

Adam Israel

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Iron Maiden's To Tame a Land:

He is the king of all the land
In the Kingdom of the sands
Of a time tomorrow.

He rules the sandworms and the Fremen
In a land amongst the stars
Of an age tomorrow.

He is destined to be a King
He rules over everything
On the land called planet Dune.

Bodywater is your life
And without it you would die
On the desert the planet Dune.

Without a stillsuit you would fry
On the sands so hot and dry
In a world called Arrakis.

It is a land that's rich in spice
The sandriders and the "mice"
That they call the "Muad'Dib".

He is the Kwizatz Haderach.
He is born of Caladan
And will take the Gom Jabbar.

He has the power to foresee
Or to look into the past
He is the ruler of the stars

The time will come for him
to lay claim his crown,
And then the foe yes
they'll be cut down,
You'll see he'll be the
best that there's been,
Messiah supreme
true leader of men,
And when the time
for judgement's at hand
Don't fret he's strong
and he'll make a stand,
Against evil and fire
That spreads through the land,
He has the power
to make it all end.
 

Dawnstorm

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1. Heh, well if we're talking David Bowie, I'll just have to share a lesser known song. It's one of Bowie's earlier songs ('67 I think) and he's displaying his gift for grim humour. We Are Hungry Men. Post Apocalyptic setting - riffing off Malthus.

Oh, and I still wish Bowie had made that 1984 record. Winston's creepy love song (?) to Julia, We Are the Dead, Lyrics.

2. Hawkwind. If there's ever been an SF/F band, it's Hawkwind. Moorcock's hepled them write songs. They've got so many songs, I didn't even know which one to choose. I think I know which one to give you, but I'll warn you to turn down the volume before you play this one, as it starts with noise. Spirit of the Age, lyrics. The theme is lonliness, played through twice - once for deep space voyage (with deepfreeze) and once for clones (who long for company - or a life for that matter - that's not like themselves).

You gotta love these lines:

Even this doggerel that pours from my pen,
has just been written by another twenty telepathic men,
Oh, word for word, it says:
"Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen".

3. Early Genesis gave us this pulpy little gem: The Return of the Giant Hogweed. A very pulpy doom-story. Killer plants, á la triffids. I wish I had a link to the album track; it's better.

4. Ultravox had a view SF songs; mostly cold-war nuclear paranoia songs, such as "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" or "All Fall Down". I give you All Stood Still. I love this life-version (but it's not standing still....).

5. Chris deBurgh's A Spaceman Came Travelling. Classic. As sappy as the later deBurgh, but he was still a vintage ballardeer back then. (It's from the Spanish Train record, which is surprisingly good.) Not a plausible premise, exactly, aliens seeding messiahs every two-thousand years or so and leaving us alone for the rest of the time. Heh.

...

n+1. Oh, and with apologies to Star Trek Fans... ;)
 

DeleyanLee

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The one that always touches my heart is filk: Hope Eyrie

Lyrics by Leslie Fish, sung here by Julia Ecklar. About the Eagle landing on the moon. I suppose it's more science than SF, but since I only heard it at con filk sings, it qualifies in my mind.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Awesome, keep 'em coming! I'm totally gonna rock out nerd style all weekend. I got more:

6. Tom Sawyer, by Rush. Chuck used it as a key plot point in one of the earlier episodes this season, which I think totally kicked ass.

7. Anything at all by Del tha Funkee Homosapien (aka Deltron 3030), in particular "Love Story". Many of his other songs are very science fictional hip-hop as well.

Yo
I just won 10 grand in the Galactic Rhyme Federation championship,
so I'm lampin a bit
I feel like returnin to Earth and burnin some herb
I'm sick of lookin at the inside of space stations
Time for Deltron to take a vacation

8. Captain America, by Jimmy Buffett! AND Captain America, by The Heiroglyphics.

9. Secret Wars Part 1, by the Last Emperor. This song is about Marvel comic book characters battling rappers. Yes, really.

Now the next fight had to be the craziest of all times
We got Dr. Octopus versus the mighty Busta Rhymes!
Doc Ock versus Busta? Man that stuff is dead
He'll get his eight arms ripped off, goin' up against the dreads
'Ha ha! Now Dr. Octopus, who you think you grabbin?
The god can never lose, so you know it will never happen
Lyrically making you sleepy, you'll need a nap when
I slap you with my dreads, lights out, you'll kiss the canvas!'

10. Science Genius Girl, by Freezepop, another SF and fantasy loving band. (They also do an awesome rendition of the Neverending Story theme song!)

i'm a science genius girl
i won the science fair
i wear a white lab coat
dna strands in my hair

when i clone a human being
it will want to hold my hand
when i clone a human being
it will be a member of my band
 

Pomegranate

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My favorite is a christmas song by Jonathan Coulton:

Merry Christmas
from Chiron Beta Prime
where we've been working in a mine
for our robot overlords
(did I say overlords? I meant protectors!)...

It's like one of those cheerful family update letters you get in christmas cards, only with robots and pain.
 

jmascia

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Well, not sci-fi... but Bilbo Baggins by Leonard Nimoy... only because its like a bad acid trip, and he takes himself so seriously. (You gotta see the music video)

Or... we can go back to the first season of SNL - Star Wars by Bill Murray
 

benbradley

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There aren't just songs, but whole albums of good SF music.

There's Rick Wakeman's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth," it's a big musical production, and has both spoken and sung parts.

The ELO album "Time" is a concept album with an SF theme (ELO was often a bit "out there" but this album was more so than others). This video has three tracks from it.

Anything under the Synergy name (check out all the music he did for those TV promos). It's all instrumental, and is enjoyable in an SF sort of way. I've got everything that was ever released on LP, and a few of the CD's including the most recent "Reconstructed Artifacts."

While looking for a good Moog Cookbook song, they do late-'60's-style-synthesizer covers of pop songs, quite light and amusing, but I think Black Hole Sun is far from their best song, I ran across this neat video, Synthesizer Zombie, not quite SF, but surely to be appreciated by those reading this thread.

Anyone thought of DSOTM yet?
 

TheIT

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Yay for Styx and Rush!

As for other songs: "Weird Science" by Oingo Boingo. There's also "Dead Man's Party" for those zombie fans. :D

And for Halloween: "Monster Mash"!

:e2teeth:
 

The Lonely One

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I enjoyed the soundtrack to Metropolis. The '20's one, not the '80's one.

Does that count?
 

blacbird

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"After the Gold Rush", Neil Young. Third verse:

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun
There were children crying and colors flying
All around the chosen ones
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun
Flyin' mother nature's silver seed
To a new home in the sun
Flyin' mother nature's silver seed
To a new home in the sun

caw
 

dolores haze

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I wish it was posted on YouTube, but it ain't...


T-Bone Burnett - Humans from Earth

We come from a blue planet light-years away
Where everything multiplies at an amazing rate
We're out here in the universe buying real estate
Hope we haven't gotten here too late

[chorus:]
We're humans from earth
We're humans from earth
You have nothing at all to fear
I think we're gonna like it here

We're looking for a planet with atmosphere
Where the air is fresh and the water clear
With lots of sun like you have here
Three or four hundred days a year

[chorus]

Bought Manhatten for a string of beads
Brought along some gadgets for you to see
Heres a crazy little thing we call TV
Do you have electricity?

[chorus]

I know we may seem pretty strange to you
But we got know-how and a golden rule
We're here to see manifest destiny through
Ain't nothing we can't get used to

We're humans from earth
We're humans from earth
 

KellyAssauer

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Pretty scary when my first thought/reaction to this question was "America the Beautiful" but ah-hem, Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'll toss in "39" by Queen, just about the only thing they recorded that hasn't been overplayed to death! (you're humming it right now aren't ya?)
 
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